Camelot
Camelot Ruler: King Arthur Status: Currently Existing First Mention: Lady of the Lake First Appearance: The Dark Swan Latest Appearance: Broken Heart Last Mention: Strange Case Camelot, formerly known as The Broken Kingdom, is a Fairy Tale Land realm featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. Camelot is based on the location of the same name from the Arthurian Legend and from the Disney film, "The Sword in the Stone". Plot 'Before First Curse' After Merlin gains magic and immortality from the Holy Grail, he accidentally turns a desert into grasslands, which, in time, becomes the village of Camelot. Five hundred years later, he becomes renowned as a healer, with his own tower in the village to conduct magical research. With his ability of foresight, he always knows what people desire when they come to him for help, except he is unable to get a read on a refugee named Nimue, whose village was destroyed by Vortigan. Love blossoms between them, and to ensure he can spend the rest of his natural life with her, Merlin decides to forge the Holy Grail into a sword and do away with his magic and immortality. Instead, Nimue secretly drinks from the grail and commits an act of darkness by killing Vortigan, turning herself into a great and powerful evil known as the Dark One. To keep him from taking away her magic, she breaks the sword. Merlin fashions the broken tip into a dagger to bind her to its power, while the rest of the sword is embedded in a stone to be pulled out by the kingdom's true ruler. In a moment of weakness, Merlin is unable to kill her, to which Nimue turns him into a tree. Many years later, a young Arthur receives a prophecy from the tree Merlin, who tells him of his fate to be king after freeing Excalibur. Sometime after these events, the portal-jumper Jefferson enters in the castle of Camelot, hoping to steal riches from the royal treasury, but instead, he meets a fellow thief named Priscilla. Before the guards come to catch them, he and Priscilla escape through the portal hat. ("Out of the Past") As an adult, Arthur fulfills his prophecy, but he becomes obsessed with finding the sword's missing half, to the point of neglecting his wife Guinevere, who attempts to retrieve the dagger, only to gain enchanted sand as a substitute. Upon realizing their marriage is in shambles, she gives him an ultimatum, but he uses the sand on her to make her stay. Arthur throws the rest of the sand on the village grounds; transforming it into a castle. 'Before Third Curse' Because of a prophecy from Merlin, King Arthur and his knights come to believe Emma and her allies will help them find the missing sorcerer. He welcomes the guests into his castle, not knowing Emma is the Dark One, as Regina claims the title of savior in her place. During a ball held in his guests' honor, Sir Percival attempts to kill Regina, out of revenge for what she did to his village years ago. With Robin Hood injured from the altercation and Regina having no means to heal him, Emma uses her dark powers to restore him. When the heroes discover a magical toadstool can help them communicate with Merlin, David volunteers to retrieve it. Arthur insists on accompanying him, though he secretly sabotages the mission by pocketing the toadstool for himself, and letting David believe the quest is a failure. Upon their return, David becomes the newest knight of the Round Table. During the ceremony, Mary Margaret exits to the hallway, where she meets a still living Lancelot, who warns that Arthur cannot be trusted. Now that David is part of his inner circle, Arthur reveals the truth about Excalibur's missing half and wants help finding the dagger. David and Mary Margaret have opposing views about trusting Arthur, but they settle their differences and develop a ruse to test Arthur. After capturing Arthur, they are apprehended by the Camelot knights, and Guinevere influences David and Mary Margaret with enchanted sand in the hopes of gaining the dagger. Emma stops her parents before they get the dagger and teams up with Regina to make a spell to free Merlin. As assurance the spell will work, Emma obtains a key ingredient, a fresh tear from a broken heart, by making Violet reject Henry. After Merlin is restored, the heroes work to steal Excalibur from Arthur, but Arthur gains help from Zelena to tether Merlin to the dagger, giving him control over the sorcerer. Hook receives a deadly wound in a battle with Arthur. In a desperate bid to save the man she loves from dying, Emma uses dark magic to tether Hook to Excalibur, creating another dark one. Arthur and Zelena travel from Camelot to DunBroch in search of an Enchanted Helm that can influence people into fighting for their cause. Emma summons Hook using Excalibur, and gives him the sword in an attempt to prove that she trusts him. However, since she lied to him earlier about no longer having Excalibur, he no longer trusts her. Later that night, a purple cloud of magic engulfs Camelot, as the Dark Curse, cast by Hook, transporting the Storybrooke guests, as well as Arthur, Guinevere, and the other residents at the Camelot Castle, to the Land Without Magic. When Merida travels into the woods near Camelot, she too is swept up by the curse. Inhabitants *The Apprentice *Grif *King Arthur *Merlin *Nimue *Queen Guinevere *Sir Kay *Sir Lancelot *Sir Morgan *Sir Percival *Violet *Vortigan Trivia On Screen Notes= *Camelot is a few days ride away from the Enchanted Forest and Arendelle, but also across the seas from DunBroch. Camelot is located to the south of DunBroch. *Arthur tells David that many of his orders are kings and princes in their own realms. This indicates that Camelot, just like the Enchanted Forest and Agrabah, is a realm with multiple kingdoms or cities, and the part of Camelot we have seen so far is the "capital". This is also suggested in "Tea Party in March", as Jefferson visits a castle in Camelot which is not the Camelot Castle. *Some powerful and magical items originate from Camelot: The Holy Grail, a cup with the power to grant eternal life, Excalibur, which was created by Merlin, and a magic gauntlet, which can locate anyone's greatest weakness. *Andrew Chambliss has confirmed that Camelot was frozen in time during the Dark Curse. |-|Other Notes= FILMING LOCATIONS *Minaty Bay, a populated locality north of Vancouver, doubles as Camelot for "The Dark Swan" beach scene with King Arthur, Lancelot and Percival, and the forest where Sir Kay tries to pull Excalibur from the stone. *The scene where Emma and her friends enter King Arthur's castle in "The Dark Swan", the scene by the Merlin tree in "The Price", the Middlemist Field scenes in "The Broken Kingdom" and "Birth", the horseback scene with Hook and Emma in "The Broken Kingdom", the village scenes in "The Broken Kingdom" and "Nimue", the scene where Henry is talking to his mothers in the forest and the scene where Emma and Regina free Merlin from the tree in "Dreamcatcher", and the "Nimue" scenes at the entrance to the abandoned tunnel outside the castle, were all filmed in Burnaby's Central Park.